Instagram is working on a disable seen status option to make chats more private

One of the things you can't do on the Instagram app right now is hide whether you have seen a message or not. However, that might change in the future according to a screenshot shared by Alessandro Paluzzi who has a history of sharing information about underdevelopment Instagram features.

Instagram is working on a toggle button that will let you disable the seen status in the app. As of now, "Seen" appears at the bottom of the conversation thread when you view a message sent by your friend. It only shows up on the sender's device to let them know that their message has been read.

But at the same time, it also takes a toll on the recipient's privacy as the seen status reveals that they were online at some point in time even if their Activity Status is disabled. Seen status reveals how much time has passed since a message was viewed by the recipient.

Activity Status lets you know when someone was last active on the app. It does so by displaying a green dot or a timestamp next to the profile picture of the people you follow or have direct messages with. However, unlike seen status, it's possible to hide your Activity Status in the Instagram app. Although, once you disable it you won't be able to know when others were last active.

In recent news, the Meta-owned social media app was also testing a feature to tag an entire group at once. This would save users some time which otherwise gets consumed in re-entering multiple user handles in Stories.

It was also known that Instagram is working on a Meta Verified content feed that would only show content from paying users of the app. The social media app has also restricted strangers from sending multiple direct messages until their message request gets accepted by the recipient. Now, message requests from unknown senders only support text messages.